Light emitting devices include a light emitting device which uses, for example, an organic EL (ElectroLuminescence) element as a light emitting element. The organic EL element has an anode electrode, a cathode, and an organic EL layer (luminous layer) formed between the pair of electrodes. One organic EL element becomes one pixel.
The luminous layers are formed for a plurality of pixels at a time in such a way as to cover regions on the substrate which are partitioned by partition walls as disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2002-75640. The regions on the substrate which are partitioned by partition walls are bottoms of grooves formed by the partition walls and the substrate.
The following is one way of fabricating such a luminous layer. First, a solution (hereinafter called ink) which contains a material for a luminous layer is applied to grooves formed by the partition walls and the substrate where a plurality of electrodes (a plurality of pixel electrodes, such as a plurality of anode electrodes) are formed. Application of the ink is carried out by ink jet printing, nozzle printing or the like. The applied ink is dried to form the luminous layers covering the grooves formed by the partition walls and the substrate.
It is desirable that the luminous layers should be formed to cover all of the plurality of electrodes on the substrate. To achieve such formation, the ink is applied in such a way as to cover the entire bottom surfaces of the grooves formed by the partition walls and the substrate, and is then dried to form the luminous layers.
However, the present inventor discovered that even if the ink were applied in such a way as to cover the entire bottom surfaces of the grooves to form the luminous layers, some regions at the bottom surfaces of the grooves might not be covered by the luminous layers.
Such a phenomenon seems to also occur in the formation of other light emitting elements having a structure similar to that of an organic EL element.